New Makro Apogon f4/120 mm HFT PQS lens (haven't seen it yet but it is said to be better than the old Makro Planar)

Adapter for turnable film magazine 4560 & Film Magazine 4560 (turnable 4.5 x 6 cm). Shot with it yesterday and it's lovely to work with.

15 different diopters for waist-level and for 45° viewfinders

CCD cover for AFi back

Injected rear Cover for AFI body

Also there are some very interesting summer promotions in Europe on many of our products: Aptus, Aptus S and AFi: From €9,995 (A65) to €24,495 (AFi7+80mm+45º prism), DSLR trade-ins and refurbished Aptus backs.

BR

Yair

Would you care to elaborate or to provide a link....


thanks in advance

Hello Heinrich,

I am sorry but I would prefer to follow the unwritten rules of this forum and to keep it free of hardsell pitches, as much as possible.

Do feel free to contact me off-line or to contact the Leaf dealer in your area and we'll be able to provide all the details.

Yair

Yair,

Don't turn all coy and bashful now! Out with it!!

Kumar

These promos have only just been released to the dealers so as soon as any of them get the info on their websites I will post links.

Yair

Good news - the 120mm Zeiss macro is one of the lenses I use most, even if the 90mm Schneider is a better performer. The focal length is just more useful for me in the field.
If this new lens is as good as the 90mm it has to be a winner!

Here's a pic of it and some blurb:



As you can see it it slightly shorter than the discontinued version and still uses Zeiss calculation.

Leaf Part Number 604-00230.
Makro Apogon MF 120 mm f/4 HFT PQS
A high-performance lens for copy work and high magnifications. Optimized for a reproduction ratio
of 1:8, may also be used (with a bellows unit) for an extended range of 1:5 to about 2:1.
Well-suited for product photos and close ups.
The 120 lens focuses from infinity
to .8 meter (31.5”).
Top shutter speed of 1/1,000 sec.
Aperture range f 4.0 – 32.
Uses the standard size VI Rollei bayonet.

Yair

And it looks like the older lenses. Great!

this is good news..
I went with the rollei system a few years back because of the 90mm .. the hasselblad/zeiss 120 at the time was just not doing it like the apo 90..
paul

And the advantage of this new lens not being AFD would be?

There's a big debate about adding AF to "specialist" lenses (specialist being wide angle macro and T/S);

These lenses are normally designed to the highest demanding tolerances. An AF element or a group of elements will have to be a separate component inside the lens that can compromise these tolerances, hence why most of not all the Macro lenses (Zeiss on Contax and V-series, Zeiss and Schnieder on the AFi, Mamiya 120/ f4) are manual.

Same for Wide Angle: Shcneider 40mm, Zeiss 35mm on Contax etc.

I tend to agree with this argument. AF in mid-tele range can be achieved by using the 80mm/f2.8 AFD along with the 1.4X converter. I've had good experience with this solution as it is fairly light and compact and it is very sharp.

Yair

Thank you, Yair!

The 35mm on the contax is autofocus and in my two versions amazingly sharp even at wide open.

JR

Zeiss and Sinar were able to develop the AF 120mm Makro lens and three AF extension tubes more that 3 years ago for Sinar-M (I believe it is the same calculation as the Makro Apogon). I am using the Sinar 120mm AF with a multi-shot back and find the results being outstanding. The AF is doable! And it is a joy to use a Makro lens on a tall motorised copying stand under the roof, in live view mode, tethered to a Mac, operating the camera and its auto-focusing through the software.

Yevgeny

Sorry my mistake, but like I said it is debatable...

Yair

Sharp is sharp, soft is soft, I've got two and they're freaky sharp.

I guess you're right, but are they sharp corner-to-corner wide open shooting head on a focusing/ resolution target and showing no CA?

I'm not saying they're not but you won't know until you've tested....

Yair

Here's some blurb from me:

This is the replacement lens that F&H had to make themselves since Zeiss no longer provides the elements for the Makro-Planar 120mm. F&H did produce several other lens designs already and now this is one of them. The only change to the 120mm Macro Planar is that the filler ring under the front bayonet has been removed. Therefore the front lens sits less deep and the cone leading to it is cut off at the front. Optically it is identical to the Macro-Planar, mechanically it is nearly identical too.

Why is it not AF? F&H believes that at the magnifications that it is thought for AF does not make much sense as the slightest repositioning of the framing after the focus is determined will lead to the subject not being in focus anymore. For flat reproduction work AF would work fine, but most other macro uses are better served by a smooth manual focusing ring (AF lenses generally do not have dampened focusing rings). Making this lens with its double extending threads AF would be mechanically very challenging, if not impossible. Also, for macro work most of the time magnification is determined first, then the lens plus tubes or bellows are set to achieve that value and the camera is being moved forward or back to get things in focus. AF will not be of much help then. Of course focus detection still works and can be of great help to those who have difficulty finding the exact focus peak. I think I have to agree with F&H on this, preferring good manual focus over AF with macro lenses.

EPd

For those of you who are interested, here's a provisional holding page for all the promotions we currently have in Europe, Middle East and Africa region:
Leaf EAMER Promotion summer 2008

We will be adding any news that are relevant to EAMER to this page, stay tuned!!!!

Yair

Anything similiar for North America?

Leaf America would normally have the US promotions on their front page. You can contact the relevant regional manager for more specific info

Yair